Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
The Dodgers lost another game to the Pirates tonight, 5-3, which makes them 1-4 against the team and confirms the season series loss. The good news? Tomorrow is the end of it.
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Ever since that disaster against the Phillies, Julio Urias had allowed just a single run in his last 11 innings. The Pirates seemed like the team he could continue that run against, but the opposite happened as they saddled him with the second-most earned runs.
Just like yesterday, the Pirates struck first, scoring two on a walk and Michael Chavis homer in the 1st. The very next inning in the 2nd, a single and Tucupita Marcano homer (again) doubled the lead to 4-0. Bleak.
Things didn’t abate in the 3rd either, as they singled three times to load the bases before Julio rebounded with back-to-back strikeouts to dodge disaster.
I suppose at least he sort of settled down from there, not that it was a high bar considering his night to that point, but he only gave up two singles over his final three innings. Urias set a season-high with eight strikeouts but had just one clean inning (5th): 6 IP, 8 H, 4 R, 1 BB, 8 K, 91 Pitches.
On the other side was Mitch Keller, he of a 6.05 ERA this year and 6.03 ERA for his career. Despite this, the Dodgers weren’t really able to mound significant rallies against him.
Though in the 3rd, the Dodgers finally got on the board, cutting the deficit in half behind a Mookie Betts walk and Trea Turner‘s fifth homer of the year.
Still, the vaunted lineup only managed two hits against Keller, but at least they worked 98 pitches, so he was out after five.
That brought in the Pirates pen and brought on a rally. A lead-off walk to Justin Turner was followed by a Chris Taylor single that cornered the runners with nobody out. But after a Gavin Lux strikeout, I was reduced to begging Kevin Pillar (now 0-for-11 with 4 K) to do literally anything.
Well … he sorta did? He swung wildly at a ball and struck out, but maybe helped to cause a wild pitch that scored JT and cut the deficit to 4-3.
Speaking of pens, Brusdar Graterol took over for Urias in the 7th, allowing a lead-off single but keeping the score intact. He then continued in the 8th and notched back-to-back strikeouts before exiting, with the length of the appearance being noteworthy.
David Price then entered and got the final out of the 8th, but gave up two singles in the 9th that plated another run for the Pirates and extended the lead to 5-3. Why was he still pitching in a close game? Who knows? Guess the Dodgers didn’t care much about trying to win.
That held up because the Dodgers didn’t get another run the rest of the way, as the Pirates closed them out with three scoreless.
Pathetic.
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The Dodgers fall to 33-16 and remain 3 games ahead of the Padres in the NL West.
The series finale is tomorrow as the Dodgers try to avoid the fucking sweep (???) at 2:10 PM HT/5:10 PM PT/8:10 PM ET by sending Mitch White to the hill against Jose Quintana.
